Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98745 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“Nay,” Noble said, “I will track her and this time I will find her. Lance can join me along with a small troop of men while you and the others finish up here and get the women back to the keep.”
“You should know that Hedley sliced Leora on the arm and went to slice her face, but she turned in time to only suffer a slash near her ear,” Lady Elizabeth said. “Hedley intended to keep slashing her until she finally succumbed to her wounds so I could watch her die before he killed me.”
Noble walked over to Hedley, his anger flaring mightily.
Hedley went to step away, but Noble was quicker. He pulled his kirk from his belt and sliced Hedley on the face. The man let out a yell, his hand rushing to his bloody cheek. Noble slashed at him again, catching his arm and Hedley stumbled back.
“It would bring me great pleasure to do to you what you intended to do to my wife and give you the painful lingering death you deserve, but I have no time to spare for you. So, you will get a quick death.”
Hedley went to speak, but never got the chance, Noble grabbed a handful of his hair, yanked his head back, and slit his throat. He let go of the man and he dropped to the ground dead.
He turned to see Lady Elizabeth and Novice Angelica staring at him.
“You need to return with my granddaughter to the Lowlands. No one would ever dare trouble Clan MacMurray with you as clan leader,” Lady Elizabeth said while Novice Angelica whispered a prayer.
“I am tired of telling you that I’m a Highlander and always will be. Do not mention it again and if anything has happened to my wife, you will meet the same fate as your nephew,” he warned, then turned to Finley and ordered. “Finish here. I will see you back at the keep.”
Noble said not another word. He examined the ground at the edge of the worn path and found his wife’s tracks, the familiar ones that had gotten him nowhere the first time he tracked her. But this time it was different. This time he would find her.
He followed the tracks into the woods intending to have his wife in his arms soon.
Lance said what Noble had surmised for himself when they reached a particular spot. “Someone took her, sir, and he had a troop of men with him.”
Noble gave thought to his options as Lance wandered a bit deeper into the woods, searching the area. He could not chance losing the tracks and he could not chance returning to the keep, fearing how far his wife could get from him. He wasn’t foolish enough to think he could defeat a troop of warriors on his own, but he could track them while Lance went for the Gallowglass.
“Sir,” Lance said, rushing toward him just as he was about to call out to him. “They turned. Just a short distance away, they turned course.”
“Where are they headed?” Noble asked anxiously.
Lance shook his head slowly. “If they hold a steady course, it looks to be toward the clan village.”
Noble had to look for himself, thinking Lance was wrong, but he wasn’t. The tracks did go toward the village.
“We follow,” Noble ordered. “They could rear off somewhere along the way.”
To Noble’s surprise, the tracks stayed on course straight to the village.
It was when he heard the horn alert his clan of the troop’s approach that he was sure of their destination.
“I am going to ride ahead to be there when the troop arrives. You follow from behind and alert me immediately if they should suddenly change course,” Noble ordered Lance, taking no chances but knowing it was unlikely.
Noble turned and followed a different path that would get him to the village faster and he entered the village just as a troop of men approached and as Finley arrived. Penn had the Gallowglass waiting for them, weapons in hand and Ross at his side.
It didn’t take long for him to spot his wife. She rode with the man who led them, and he grew angry at how she was tucked against him. Then he spotted her wagging her finger in the man’s face and he had to smile.
Noble rode his horse straight for the man. He had good features, dark hair and eyes, and, though lean, one could see he had good strength to him. He sat his horse with confidence and held himself with even more confidence.
Noble kept his smile locked away when he heard his wife say, “That is my husband, just as I told you time and again until—”
“I grew tired of hearing it,” the man snapped and brought his horse to a stop at Noble’s approach. “Take her. Please take her.”